Inuit place-names and main-land relationships, Pelly Bay, Northwest Territories

• Main Author: Goehring, Brian
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 1990
• Subjects: Names; Indian > Northwest Territories; Pelly Bay (N.W.T.) > Name; Canada; Indian; Northwest Territories; Pelly Bay; inuit; inuktitut
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29715

The Inuit of Pelly Bay, N.W.T. have been among the last groups of native people in Canada to experience contact, and to settle in a permanent community. In this isolated settlement the Inuit culture, although changing and constantly adapting, remains strong. The traditional economy, based upon the harvesting of land-based resources, continues to be a vital part of the culture. The thesis examines the nature and extent of this man-land relationship, in the present-day context, and follows the on-the-land activities of all members of this community through one harvest year. Particular emphasis is paid to the nature of the location of such activities, and the methods by which Inuit navigate from place to place. The thesis details the location and translated meaning of 307 Inuktitut place names within the Pelly Bay land-use area, and demonstrates that an ordered and logical pattern of organisation of named physical features exists, a perception of landscape unique to the local region. The knowledge of these toponyms, combined with several supplemental techniques, forms a complete and functional system of navigation which continues to be used by the Inuit of Pelly Bay in their yearly cycle of on-the-land activities. Arts, Faculty of Geography, Department of Graduate